Top US commander says ISIS leader most likely still alive

WASHINGTON — The leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is likely still alive and hiding somewhere near the Iraq-Syria border, the commander of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the militant group said Thursday.

Army Lt. Gen. Steve Townsend, asked about the status of the elusive terrorist leader, told reporters at the Pentagon he thinks al-Baghdadi is alive in part because he had seen no credible evidence to the contrary, despite numerous reports of his demise, mostly recently in June, when the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that it had killed him in an air strike.

Townsend, speaking by video from Baghdad, also said his view is informed by “some indicators in intelligence channels that he’s alive.”

“I think he’s probably somewhere in the middle Euphrates River valley,” the expanse between the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor and the Iraqi town of Rawah, added Townsend, who is in the final weeks of a yearlong deployment overseeing U.S. and allied operations in both countries. “He’s not in Mosul. He’s not in Tal Afar. I don’t think he’s in Raqqa anymore.”

Townsend added further that he would be “satisfied just to kill him” rather than capture Baghdadi, who has not been seen publicly since a rare appearance in Mosul more than three years ago after the city fell to the Islamic State.

“When we find him, I think we’ll probably just try to kill him first," Townsend said bluntly. "Probably not worth all the trouble to try to capture him.”

The general also praised the Trump administration for delegating authority for air strikes and other tactical moves to commanders like himself and their subordinates in the field.

“The current administration has pushed decision-making down into the military chain of command, and I don’t know of a commander in our armed forces who doesn’t appreciate that.” Townsend said. “A key result of that is we don’t get second-guessed a lot.”